Crypto Bear Market May Be Near Bottom as Institutions Pile In
Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes that the crypto bear market is showing signs of a real bottom. In an interview on the Milk Road Show, Hougan pointed out that despite Bitcoin being stuck near $63,000, institutional investors are increasingly viewing digital assets as an asset class for the long term.
Hougan noted that major wealth-management platforms such as Wells Fargo, UBS, and Stifel have shown a growing interest in crypto. 'Those ships have turned slowly towards crypto, and they really don’t care about the short-term price,' Hougan said.
The focus is on assets tied to stablecoins and tokenization, including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), and Ondo (ONDO). Hougan also highlighted Hyperliquid, Uniswap (UNI), and Aave (AAVE) as examples of crypto projects with real revenues.
Hougan sees the 'pancake' price action of Bitcoin at historically low levels of volatility as a positive sign. He noted that bear markets tend to die in apathy, where markets stop reacting negatively to bad news. Hougan believes that Bitcoin has absorbed falling odds of the CLARITY Act passing and broader equity-market volatility without suffering another major breakdown.
While there is still some caution with expectations for another Bitcoin low around October, Hougan expects prices to finish the year higher. He sees the potential upside outweighing the remaining downside and believes that suppressed volatility will eventually be released to the upside.